United Launch Alliance (ULA) announced its plans to resume flights of its flagship space rocket, "Vulcan", on the thirteenth of next November, following a nine-month suspension due to a technical glitch that affected the solid rocket boosters and disrupted the company's launch schedule for 2026.
The return-to-flight mission carries 40 satellites designated for the "Amazon Leo" broadband constellation, marking the first of 38 missions contracted by Amazon to deploy the bulk of its network. The mission will launch from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, pending launch range approval.
Technical Challenges and Space Force Pressure
This launch is of critical importance to ULA after its new rocket experienced failures in the solid rocket booster nozzles during two of its first four flights, the most recent of which was in February. Although the rocket successfully completed its mission in both instances despite the malfunction, officials in the US Space Force—the company's primary customer—lost some confidence in the system, leading them to impose strict oversight on the return flight.
In an official statement, ULA confirmed that its engineers have made significant progress in understanding the causes of the February anomaly, identifying several potential factors that have been addressed through design improvements and nozzle manufacturing processes. The upcoming flight will rely on the improved design to gather real-time flight data supporting the engineering enhancements.
What Practically Changes for Military and Commercial Missions?
The US Department of Defense relies on ULA (the joint venture between Boeing and Lockheed Martin) to deploy an arsenal of communications, navigation, early warning, and surveillance satellites. Due to previous delays, Space Command transferred six missions to SpaceX's "Falcon 9" and "Falcon Heavy" rockets, in exchange for compensating ULA with other future missions to maintain balance.
Next month's flight will feature being the first to use the full configuration consisting of six solid rocket boosters, in addition to the first appearance of an extended payload fairing to accommodate the Amazon satellite batch, and a shortened Centaur upper stage specifically designed for low Earth orbit missions.